Joss Whedon Discusses Details of His Next Film

After 15 years or so in the TV business, creating fan favorites like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse, Joss Whedon signed a deal with Marvel in 2010 to direct The Avengers and its sequel. While the two films were hits at the box office, development and production on them took around five years, leaving Whedon little time to do anything else. So, burnt out and wishing to go back to creating his own original works, Whedon ended his relationship with Marvel earlier this year.

It’s only been a year since Whedon’s Avengers: Age of Ultron released in theaters, but the writer-director-producer has been strangely quiet since then. Following his abrupt departure from Twitter last year, we learned that Whedon left social media so he could focus on his writing. Since then everyone has been wondering what he will come up with next. Now we hear he’s been working on a new script.

Reportedly The Wrap got the word from Whedon himself at Saturday’s inaugural HeForShe Media Summit in Los Angeles, where he was honored for his work on behalf of women’s rights. Whedon is a big proponent of gender equality, and his new script doesn’t sound like it’ll disappoint in that regard. Being understandably vague, Whedon did manage to reveal the basic premise:

“It is a story about a girl who goes through some unbelievable s***. And that much is all I can say. It is an original screenplay that is very different from everything I’ve ever done, except for that it’s exactly the same.”

Of course, it wouldn’t be Whedon if it didn’t have at least one female protagonist kicking ass and taking names, but it’s not clear yet if the script will be sci-fi/fantasy or not. Though Whedon got his start writing for Roseanne, much of his work since then has been sci-fi or superhero-based. At this point, we can assume this new work will be in the same vein, though it could even be horror like Cabin in the Woods.

Whedon says he hopes to finish the script in the next few months “if I could just get a little more traction on that third-act issue.” So it’s possible we could hear more about it towards the end of this year. But for now, it sounds like Whedon is just happy to be free of any TV series or film and just doing something for himself for once:

“It’s the first time in my life I’m writing without a sort of studio audience rating — without a plan. I’m just writing about something I care about, so it’s a little terrifying and it’s taking a little longer. But I think it will be good!”

Creativity often comes best when creators are left to their own devices and are able recharge their creative juices. Whedon has created a lot of pop culture’s favorite universes, so fans who were left wanting something original from him may soon get their wish.

While Whedon, like all great TV writers, is good at taking over someone else’s work and doing something new with it as he did in The Avengers, he truly excels when he gets to make something new. Maybe now that Nathan Fillion is also done with Castle, the two can move forward on that long promised Dr. Horrible sequel, too. The sky’s the limit right now, with Whedon able to go where the wind takes him.

Avengers: Age of Ultron is now available on Blu-ray, DVD and digital. Captain America: Civil War will release on May 6, 2016, followed by Doctor Strange– November 4, 2016; Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 – May 5, 2017; Spider-Man: Homecoming – July 7, 2017; Thor: Ragnarok – November 3, 2017; Black Panther – February 16, 2018; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 – May 4, 2018; Ant-Man and the Wasp – July 6, 2018;Captain Marvel – March 8, 2019; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 – May 3, 2019; Inhumans – July 12, 2019; and as-yet untitled Marvel movies on May 1, July 10 and November 6, 2020.